Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR) (CNBC)
Shares of Restaurant Brands International rocketed up Monday after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on the back of new menu items and affordable burgers. Shares were recently trading up more than 6 percent. The company, which owns Burger King, Tim Horton’s and Popeye’s, said net income in the fourth quarter rose to $395 million, or $1.59 a share, up from $118.4 million, or 50 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, the company earned 66 cents per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of 57 cents, according to Thomson Reuters consensus.
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) (MarketWatch)
Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. LL, -9.16% slumped 2.6% in premarket trade Monday, after the wood floorings seller was downgraded at Wedbush, citing concerns the company’s fourth-quarter results will miss expectations because of accelerating promotions and increased competition. Analyst Seth Basham cut his rating to neutral, after being at outperform the past nine months. He slashed his stock price target to $28 from $39. Basham said he is also concerned that sales gains driven by inventory growth and a “healthy assortment” are slowing, that interest rates are rising, transportation costs are increasing and the benefits of installation services to same-store sales wane.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) (Seeking Alpha)
A Phase 2 clinical trial assessing Ra Pharmaceuticals’ (RARX +2.4%) subcutaneously administered RA101495 in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) showed a positive effect in patients who were naive to Alexion Therapeutics’ (ALXN +5.3%) Soliris (eculizumab). The data weren’t so good for patients on Soliris therapy, however. In 10 PNH patients naive to Soliris, treatment with RA101495 met the primary endpoint of a sustained reduction in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels from baseline to the mean of weeks 6 – 12 (p=0.002) with near-complete suppression of complement activity. Half (n=3/6) of the transfusion-dependent subjects prior to enrollment remained transfusion-free during the study period.
Amber Road Inc (NYSE:AMBR) (Benzinga)
Amber Road Inc shares surged 43.4 percent to $9.88. E2open proposed to acquire Amber Road for $10.50 per share in cash in a transaction valued at over $300 million.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) (The Seattle Times)
Amazon is laying off hundreds of corporate employees, a rare cutback for a company that has spent most of the last few years in a frantic growth spurt. The layoffs, underway now, will fall on several hundred employees at the online retailer’s Seattle headquarters, along with hundreds more elsewhere in Amazon’s global operations, one person familiar with the cuts said. The layoffs are primarily focused on Amazon’s consumer retail businesses, according to two people familiar with the matter.
